The present invention relates to an interchangeable battery for mobile radio telephones. In particular, the present invention relates to a battery with additional communication possibilities.
Mobile radio telephones are more and more used also for data communication and additional services such as VAS (Value Added Services). For this purpose, programs and data are stored in storage areas of the telephone and/or in an identification card inserted in the telephone. Mobile telephones however usually have only very small keys and controls, so that only very short entries can be made with such keys, which strongly restricts the utilization possibilities of mobile telephones.
Mobile telephones have therefore been proposed that have, in addition to the mobile radio part, a contactless interface, for example an inductive or infrared interface, with which they can communicate with external devices, for example with computers, palmtops or POS (Point-of-Sale), that have better input means. A mobile telephone with such an interface was described among others in patent applications WO9858510A1 and WO9837524A1.
There are presently many different standards for contactless interfaces and new protocols are regularly developed and proposed. Commercially available mobile telephones however have at most one contactless interface of a particular type, so that it can communicate only with external devices of this type. Furthermore, mobile radio telephones become obsolete as soon as the communication protocol provided is outdated.
It is thus an aim of the present invention to propose a mobile telephone that is suited for the transmission of data with external devices according to a plurality of different standards.
It is a further aim of the invention to propose a mobile telephone that does not have the shortcomings of prior art devices.
According to the invention, these aims are achieved in particular by means of an interchangeable battery for mobile radio telephones having the characteristics of the characterizing part of claim 1, and by means of a mobile telephone having the characteristics of the independent mobile telephone claim.
In particular, these aims are achieved by means of an interchangeable battery comprising a radio interface.
Because the contactless interface is fitted on a detachable and commercially easily available part of the mobile device, it is possible for the user to simply replace the battery with another one in order to communicate with different external devices according to various different protocols.
The radio interface preferably consists of a known RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) element, comprised for example of an antenna, for example a coil, and a communication controller. Such a RFID element allows the mobile telephone to communicate with external devices, for example with devices in the same room, in both directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,789 describes a GPS unit with a battery, in which a mobile radio telephone is integrated, as well as a mobile radio telephone with a battery, in which a GPS receiver is mounted. These combination devices can not be used in order to establish bi-directional connections with external devices at close range.
Additional contacts allow the battery to communicate with the mobile telephone. In a variant embodiment, it can communicate with the mobile telephone through modulation of the feeding voltage. In another variant embodiment, it can communicate with the mobile telephone over an additional contactless interface.